Expandable Retriever Mesh for Aspiration Clot Removal
Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for removing blood clots from medium to large blood vessels and heart chambers are inadequate, as they are either invasive, inefficient, or carry significant risks such as bleeding complications and incomplete clot removal.
Innovation Solution
Development of a retriever device with a mesh structure that can transition between collapsed, expanded, and deployed configurations, allowing for the mechanical removal of adherent intravascular material through an aspiration system, enabling en-bloc removal or fragmentation of clots without damaging vessel walls.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If surgical embolectomy is performed to remove blood clots from large blood vessels, then complete clot removal is achieved, but the procedure becomes highly invasive with significant recovery time and risk
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical surgical system (open surgery with clamps and sutures) with a catheter-based aspiration system that uses controlled suction to remove clots. The retriever device with its expandable basket captures clots mechanically, but the removal is achieved through aspiration pressure rather than surgical extraction, significantly reducing invasiveness while maintaining effectiveness
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary device (the retriever basket within the catheter system) that mediates between the clot and the aspiration force. This intermediary captures the clot en bloc and facilitates its gentle extraction through the catheter, avoiding the direct traumatic intervention of surgical embolectomy while ensuring complete removal
2Reliability
If thrombolytic agents are used to dissolve blood clots, then clot removal is achieved, but bleeding complications and incomplete removal occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the chemical thrombolytic system with a mechanical aspiration system. Instead of using enzymes to dissolve clots (which causes systemic bleeding), the device mechanically captures and removes clots intact through controlled suction, achieving clot removal without the harmful bleeding side effects of chemical therapy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the clot from the body in its intact form through the catheter system, rather than attempting to dissolve it in place. The retriever basket captures the clot en bloc and extracts it through the aspiration lumen, removing the harmful substance without requiring chemical breakdown that would cause bleeding complications
3Object-affected harmful factors
If smaller catheters are used for clot removal to reduce invasiveness, then less invasive procedure is achieved, but incomplete clot removal and fragmentation occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a dynamic retriever basket that can expand and contract. During navigation through the catheter, the basket remains collapsed to minimize profile. Upon deployment at the clot site, it expands to a large diameter to capture the entire clot, then contracts again for retrieval. This dynamic transformation allows a single catheter to achieve both low invasiveness and complete clot capture
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a nested structure where the retriever basket is contained within the catheter lumen during delivery. The basket collapses inside the catheter like a nested doll, allowing it to pass through small access points. At the treatment site, the basket expands outward from the catheter to capture the clot, then retracts back into the catheter for removal, achieving complete clot removal through a small catheter
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for aspiration system retrievers that are configured to remove undesirable intravascular material. The retrievers can be utilized in connection with manually operated or automatic recirculation aspiration systems. The retrievers can be configured to transition between various configurations, including a collapsed configuration suitable for being advanced through a lumen of a catheter and an expanded configuration suitable for collecting or mechanically disrupting the undesirable intravascular material.